WOMEN EDUCATION STATUS AT HIGHER LEVEL IN

UTTAR PRADESH AND JHARKHAND

*Mr. Tej Bahadur Maurya **Mr. Manash Kumar

Abstract
In terms of women's education, India is presently a global leader. In India, the government
and civil society have both given serious consideration to the issue of women's education
because well-educated women can be vital to the nation's progress. Women's empowerment
focuses on education since it equips them with the skills necessary to overcome obstacles,
accept their conventional roles, and improve their lives. India is positioned to become a
developing nation and a future powerhouse by 2022, thus we cannot ignore the value of
education in terms of women's empowerment.

Additionally, education helps to lessen inequality and raises the status of students within their
families. After enacting the 86th Constitutional Amendment, which declared that every
Indian child had a basic right to education from ages 6 to 14, the Indian government launched
the Education for All (EFA) programme in 2002.

Despite the fact that men and women both play significant roles in society and occupy the
same physical space, women generally have less status than males. According to the increase
in per capita income, Uttar Pradesh is one of India's growing states. In contrast to the average
for all of India, there is a notion that women's status is lower in Uttar Pradesh.

In Jharkhand, girls leave school after class 5 at a rate of about 45% on average because of
poverty, social stigma, and home duties that lead to early marriage. Eighty-six per cent of
Jharkhand's single girls desire to finish their secondary education, according to a recent
World Bank and Government of Jharkhand poll.

Key Words: Women education, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand

*Mr. Tej Bahadur Maurya, Research Scholar Faculty of Education Kamachha,

BHU,Varanasi. E-mail Id: tbmghazipur@bhu.ac.in

**Mr. Manash Kumar, Research Scholar Faculty of Education, Kamachha, BHU, Varanasi.
E-mail Id: manashkumar@bhu.ac.in
Introduction

“Sit ideal no more. Go get education.”

-Savitribai Phule

For the nation's social and economic development to proceed properly, women's education is
crucial. Similar to a powerful medicine that can completely treat a patient and restore their
health. India has a great chance to socially and economically advance through the education
of women. Through their contributions at home and in the workplace, educated women are
the weapons that have a good impact on Indian society.
They are the cause of the country's and societies improved economies. An educated lady is
capable of managing both her personal and professional lives. Considering that they prefer to
get married later than uneducated women, they can significantly help manage India's
population.

During the British era in India, numerous well-known social reformers focused on educating
women, including Raja Ram Mohan Ray, Jyotirao Phule, and Iswara Chandra Vidya Sagar.
The country's population is split equally between men and women. They should have an
equal opportunity to contribute to the development of the nation because they are like two
sides of the same coin. The fact that women are everything and give birth to the next
generation means that one cannot live without the other. They would produce future
generations who would be educated, resulting in a good social and economic climate in India
if they were well-educated.

A state in northern India is called Uttar Pradesh. With more than 200 million residents, it is
both the most populous country subdivision in the world and the most populous state in India.
After India had become a republic, it was founded in 1950.

India's easternmost state is called Jharkhand. The waterfalls, Parasnath Hill's exquisite Jain
temples, and Betla National Park's elephants and tigers are some of its most well-known
attractions. The park is accessible from Ranchi, the state capital. Along with a Hindu temple
built in the seventeenth century, it is home to the Jharkhand War Memorial. Rabindranath
Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, and Tagore Hill is a memorial to him.

Due to regional stratification, women's education in the various states of India today—or in
the twenty-first century—varies, particularly in higher education. In this essay, we examine
the situation of women's higher education in the states of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Objectives:
 To study the recent position of women education in India.
 To study the policies for women education in India.
 To compare the women education at higher level in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Methodology of the study

The current research is primarily descriptive in nature. Secondary data sources were used
to create the study. Data from the 2011 census are included in the sample. The primary
data sources include different census surveys conducted in India as well as an online
database of statistics from the Indian census, journals, and other publications.

Recent Position of Women Education in India

According to the 2011 Census data, women's literacy rates are 65.46 per cent, which is
considerably lower than the 74.04 per cent national average. Again, compared to urban
regions, the literacy percentage for women in rural areas (58.75) is quite low (79.92). This
shows that the majority of women in India are still illiterate, backward, exploited, and weak.
Table 1
Year wise literacy rate between male and female literacy rate (1901- 2011)
S. No. Year Male Female

01 1901 9.8 0.7

02 1911 10.6 1.1
03 1921 12.2 1.8
04 1931 15.6 2.9
05 1941 24.9 7.3
06 1951 24.9 7.3
07 1961 34.4 13..0
08 1971 39.5 18.7
09 1981 46.9 24.8
10 1991 63.9 39.2
11 2001 76.0 54.0
12 2011 82.14 65.46
Source: Census report of India 2011 (Website: http://censusindia.gov.in/)
According to Table 1, the literacy rate has increased over the past 110 years for both men and
women. The literacy rate has increased for both men and women, with 72.34% for males and
63.76% for women. That there is gender imbalance in the field of education is demonstrated
by this. According to the 2011 Census, there is currently a 16.68 percentage point difference
in men and women's literacy rates, which is 82.14% for men and just 65.46% for women.

EDUCATION AND GENDER INEQUALITY:

The most vital tool for developing human resources is education. As a result, among the
many steps done to rise the status of women in India, education for women is given top
importance. The socioeconomic circumstances of the population, as well as their attitude,
values, and culture, limit educational opportunities in India. Education was connected to
socio-religious organisations throughout the pre-British era, which strengthened an
oppressive and constrained social framework. During the British era, education turned into an
instrument of colonial authority, allowing a small few to receive education and all of its
advantages.
Women's education was more in demand thanks to nineteenth-century social reformers.
Politicians have promoted both universal education and using education as a vehicle to
promote social equality ever since the country's independence.

Table-II
State-Wise Percentage of Female Literacy in India as per 2011 Census

S.No. Name of the State Female Literacy

(%)
01 Andhra Pradesh 59.7%
02 Arunachal Pradesh 59.6%
03 Assam 67.3%
04 Bihar 53.3%
05 Chhattisgarh 60.6%
06 Delhi 80.9%
07 Goa 81.8%
08 Gujarat 70.7%
09 Haryana 66.8% 66.8%
10 Himachal Pradesh 76.6%
11 Jammu and Kashmir 58.0%
12 Jharkhand 56.2%
13 Karnataka 68.1%
14 Kerala 92.0%
15 Madhya Pradesh 60.0%
16 Maharashtra 75.5%
 17 Manipur 73.2%
18 Meghalaya 73.8%
19 Mizoram 89.4%
20 Nagaland 76.7%
21 Orissa 64.4%
22 Punjab 71.3%
23 Rajasthan 52.7%
24 Sikkim 76.4%
25 Tamil Nadu 73.9%
26 Tripura 83.1%
27 Uttar Pradesh 59.3%
28 Uttarakhand 70.7%
29 West Bengal 71.2%
Union Territories
1 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 81.8%
2 Chandigarh 81.4%
3 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 65.9%
4 Daman & Diu 79.6%
5 Lakshadweep 88.2%
6 Pondicherry 81.2%
All India 65.46

According to Table II, the average female literacy rate across all of India in 2011 was 65.46
per cent. Kerala had the highest average literacy rate, at 92.0%, and Rajasthan had the lowest,
at 52.7%. When comparing the two, the female literacy rate increased by 11% between the
2011 and the previous year's censuses, from 54.16% to 65.46 per cent. Over the past ten
years, women's growth has been strong.

The Policies for Women: India has actively worked to improve the status and education
of women both before and after Independence. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of
2002 has been a ground-breaking step in the expansion of education, particularly for ladies.
This law declares that children between the ages of 6 and 14 have a fundamental right to
receive an elementary education.

The government has committed to providing this education free of charge and making it
mandatory for people who fall within that age range. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is the project's
more well-known name (SSA). Since that time, the SSA has developed a number of
initiatives to encourage both the inclusive and exclusive expansion of Indian education as a
whole, including programs to support the advancement of female education.

Mahila Samakhya Programme: As a part of the New Education Policy, the Mahila
Samakhya Program was introduced in 1988. The empowerment of rural women, particularly
those from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, was the goal of its creation. A
committee was first constituted when the SSA was established to investigate this initiative,
assess its performance, and make improvement suggestions.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme (KGBV): This programme was introduced in
August 2004 to offer girls primary-level education. It is primarily intended for impoverished
and rural communities with extremely low levels of female literacy. The newly established
schools have 100% reservation, with 25% of the students coming from below the poverty line
(BPL) and 75% of the students coming from the backward class.

Operation Blackboard: This programme includes providing instructors with the bare
minimum of classroom amenities as well as equipment for teaching and learning, with a
focus on increasing the number of women teachers who are hired. This has been
accomplished as a result of the understaffing and dearth of female teachers, which has
hampered the expansion of girls' education in rural areas.

Under Dr. Kothari's leadership, the Education Commission (1964-66) placed a strong
emphasis on implementing the unique programmes suggested by the prior committees on
women's education. It supported shared curricula for girls and boys. Girls were supposed to
be required to take electives like home science and fine arts in upper secondary. In fact, girls
were to be urged to choose math and science at these academic levels. In order to teach these
courses, efforts were made to train more female instructors.

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001) discussed how women were
doing in terms of politics, economics, education, and health. It reaffirmed the NPE 1986
recommendations for educating women, including the need to develop gender-sensitive
educational systems, democratise access to education, and lessen the gender gap in secondary
and higher education.

Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) in Higher Education:

S.No. Level of Education Higher Education

Year 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016
State Female
01 Uttar Pradesh 23.0 25.5 24.9
02 Jharkhand 12.5 14.8 14.8
Data Source: Department of Higher Education, MHRD, Government of India
 30
25
20
15 Uttar Pradesh
10 Jharkhand
5
0
2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016
Higher Education of women

The above data table shows Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) in Higher Education among
women is higher in Uttar Pradesh than Jharkhand in the three different sessions. In the State
Uttar Pradesh the enrolment rate in the women higher education increasing from the year
2013-2014 and decreasing from the year 2014-2015 and in the state Jharkhand the enrolment
increasing and stagnation occur.

Suggestion:

There is a need to help women in their pursuit of higher education because the census
indicates that Uttar Pradesh has a particularly high proportion of female residents. Due to
poverty, social stigma, household works and long distance of schools from villages their GER
in higher education is very low. The majority of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand's female
population lives in rural regions, thus the government must work to raise awareness of the
need of girls pursuing higher education and provide the supports for the higher education.

When gender discrimination (in this case) is combined with other forms of discrimination,
such as prejudice based on caste, class, religion, etc., the difficulties women already
experience are amplified and they become even more susceptible. In Jharkhand, there are a
sizable number of indigenous people, according to the 2011 Census Report.

The position of women in higher education in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand is quite poor
despite the existence of many programs and regulations in both states. This is due to a lack of
resources in the foundational and middle levels of education. In light of this, running the
policies in effective ways is really important.

Conclusion: In practically every state, the number of women enrolled in higher education is
rising. The number of women enrolling in higher education is also rising. Uttar Pradesh and
Jharkhand are two Indian states where the rate of growth is moderate. The enrolment is
reliant on having female teachers. The target still has to be reached. As a result, it is still
difficult to find higher education institutions for women, particularly in rural regions, and the
enrolment of women in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand is relatively low. India is currently a top
nation for women's education. According to the Government of India's Census Report,
educating girls is the most effective way to change one's social standing. Additionally,
education helps to lessen inequality and raises the status of students within their families. In
order to support women's education at all levels and to combat gender bias in the
dissemination of information and education, the state built schools, colleges, and universities
that are solely for female students. But in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand women education in
higher level is not satisfactorily.

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MATHIRAJ. SP.and SAROJA DEVI. R. (2016). Indian women education, allagappa

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jharkhand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh